Time's Passage
Peter Stockland
July 19, 2017
The cycle of creation is made manifest in the details of an old motor vehicle gradually being subsumed into the earth.
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Beginning Again
Nicole Weir
July 18, 2017
"I grew up attending church and singing in the church choir. But, I wouldn’t consider myself or my family to be religious. As a child, I never really understood why I needed to go to church. I didn’t understand the importance that faith or religion can play in a person's life. I truly believe that my story of faith begins in 2012 because that year the dynamic of our family changed."
I stopped wanting to attend classes, church services, Bible study, as well as other social events because I cared too much about what I thought other people would think of me; this had made me slightly depressed, claustrophobic in public, and I found myself once again slowly losing my faith After th...
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Independent Image
Hannah Marazzi with Gregory Wolfe
July 18, 2017
For nearly 30 years, Seattle-based Image journal has striven to combine the beauty of art and the mystery of faith without deferring to what founding editor Greg Wolfe calls “any single tribal group in society.” Convivium’s Hannah Marazzi asked him about the motivation and the struggles of such a venture.
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The Might of Modesty
Tim McCauley
July 17, 2017
Father Tim McCauley reflects on questions of human dignity and respect as prompted by ever changing "summer fashions." Do you have a stance, opinion, perspective, or experience that relates to the conversation surrounding modesty? Add your voice to the conversation.
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Sacred Simplicity
Peter Stockland
July 17, 2017
Light and shadow serve as a lens to illuminate reverent solitude.
The melding of light, colour and darkness can bring the wonder of the transcendent, the mystery of the sacred, to almost any space ...
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Peak Season
Peter Stockland
July 14, 2017
Convivium author Peter Stockland reflects on the mysterious collapse of motels and the spiritual significance that these places of refuge possess.
Years ago, I wrote a long short story about two former childhood friends who reconnect in mid-life and conduct an adulterous affair by breaking into a particular room of the forsaken Motel Raphael that once truly stood just off Montreal’s Highway 20 What I learned on this year’s summer vacation is t...
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Convivium Readers Respond: Media Defined Faith
Peter Menzies, with Naomi Lakritz, Richelle Wiseman
July 14, 2017
Convivium readers and long time contributors respond to Publisher Peter Stockland's compellingly written defence earlier this month of how faith is inextricably tied to his identity and vocation as a journalist.
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The Language of Faith
Peter Stockland
July 13, 2017
For the past year, Peter Stockland has had the dream-work opportunity of gathering stories like that of Sikh artist Juss Rani Kaur, from Canadians across the country as part of the Thread of 1000 Stories project.
Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan, whom I met as part of my Thread of 1000 Stories gathering, says that’s why it’s important that inter-faith work be rooted in, and between, communities rather than just individuals For the past 18 months, I’ve had the dream-work opportunity of gathering stories such as Juss ...
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Acts of Good X 150 = Canada
Peter Stockland
July 13, 2017
After Canada’s July 1 bash for our 150th birthday, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) challenged every mosque, church, temple, synagogue and place of worship to commit to 150 acts of public service this year. Convivium publisher Peter Stockland asked CIJA CEO Shimon Koffler Fogel for more details.
How we can improve ourselves? How we can share certain values and principles that are inherent to what we believe as individuals and groups of faith to improve the lives beyond our own parochial communities to impact on those of all Canadians? I think that over the last few decades, and certainly in...
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Faith in Humanity
Merrilee Fraser
July 12, 2017
We are often asked why we like to go to Cuba when the food is so bad, and our response is “we go to Cuba for the people, not the food.” Read about Merrilee and Dan Fraser and the deep love they have for their friends in Cuba.
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The Khadr Smokescreen
Don Hutchinson
July 12, 2017
Ottawa author Don Hutchinson says Canadians should stop reacting emotionally to the Omar Khadr settlement, and start asking critical questions about the political secrecy around it.
Parliament would seem to have been the preferred place to treat the Khadr situation as well if, as statements by Prime Minister Trudeau and other government officials indicate, the settlement was simply about prior Canadian government failures to respect the Charter rights of a Canadian citizen deta...
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The Language Of Ashes
Ruth Dick
July 11, 2017
Surveying the smoke and clangour of current political (dis)engagement, Ottawa writer Ruth Dick echoes the wisdom of her grandfather’s life-long admonition: Listen to everyone.
We don’t need to stray far into theories of meaning to see that a Pavlovian response (be it condemning or approving) to utterance, shorn of intent and context, and treated simply as a badge of where someone stands on certain issues, is an impoverishment of communication, and arguably of relationship...
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Dear Canada
July 10, 2017
Today Convivium publishes an open letter, authored and affirmed at the Faith in Canada 150 Millennial Summit at the Ottawa Offices of Cardus, Canada’s faith based think tank, June 30, 2017.
We, delegates of the Faith in Canada 150 Millennial Summit, have taken hold of the opportunity that 2017 has provided to reflect on the role that faith communities and individuals of differing faith traditions have had on the formation of our nation ...
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Anniversary Afterthoughts
Raymond J. de Souza
July 10, 2017
Convivium Editor in Chief Father Raymond J. de Souza reflects on the Canada Day celebrations that unfolded in early July.
The last time I was on Parliament Hill for a royal visit was back in 1989, when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother came to mark the 50th anniversary of the royal tour of 1939 that she made with King George VI, about which she famously said, “Canada made us!” It’s rather a long way down fro...
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A Song of Ascents: A Report from the Faith in Canada 150 Millennial Summit
Daniel Bezalel Richardsen
July 7, 2017
Convivium contributor Daniel Bezalel Richardsen reflects on the recently convened Faith in Canada 150 Millennial Summit and the hope he derived from this historic gathering.
A consensus that emerged during our conversation was that while we willed the good of our own faith communities, and desired fraternal bonds with others who did not share our faith, we also emphasized that we sought the good of those of no faith at all, which would include many of our fellow citizen...